1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fishing reel of a double bearing type and, in particular, to such fishing reel including a clutch member which is rotatably supported on a reel main body by the bearing, is so held by a bearing as to be movable along the axis of rotation of a spool rotatably supported between a pair of side plates of the reel main body, is so arranged as to receive a rotation force from a handle, and is movable along the spool rotation axis selectively between a rotational force transmission position for transmitting the rotational force to a spool shaft and a rotation force cut-off position for cutting off the transmission of the rotation force.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as a double-bearing type fishing reel of the above-mentioned type, for example, there is known a fishing reel which is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. 4-129771 of Heisei. According to the conventional double-bearing type of fishing reel disclosed in the present publication, in a spool shaft rotatably supported between a pair of side plates included in a reel main body, as a clutch member, there is provided a pinion which is disposed in one of the above pair of side plates in such a manner that it is concentric with one end portion projectingly provided in one of the above pair of side plates and to which a rotation force from a handle can be input. The pinion is rotatably supported by a pair of bearings in one of the two side plates and is free to move in a direction along the axis of rotation of the spool shaft; and, in particular, the pinion can be moved selectively between a rotation force transmission position, in which the pinion approaches a spool along the above axis of rotation and is engaged with an engaging projection provided on the above one end portion, and a rotation force cut-off position in which the pinion moves away from the rotation force transmission position with respect to the spool and is removed from the engagement with the engaging projection.
Further, when turning the spool into its freely rotatable condition in order to play out a fishing line from the spool, by operating a clutch operation lever which is provided on and projected from the reel main body, the pinion is moved from the rotation force transmission position to the rotation force cut-off position. When transmitting the rotation force from the handle to the spool in order to take up the fishing line onto the spool, with the rotation of the handle in a given fishing line take-up direction, the pinion is moved from the rotation force cut-off position to the rotation force transmission position by a clutch opening and removing mechanism.
In the above-mentioned conventional fishing reel of a double bearing type, the engaging projection on the one end portion of the spool shaft is situated between the bearing for the pinion and the spool. For this reason, the length of the engaging projection is longer in a direction to extend along the rotation axis of the spool shaft in the above-mentioned one of the pair of side plates of the reel main body than in the other direction, and therefore, together with the handle also disposed in the above-mentioned one side plate, the imbalance between the right and left dimensions and weights of the real main body around the rod mounting portion of the fishing reel of a double bearing type is increased.
This worsens the operation feeling of a fishing rod with the above-mentioned conventional fishing reel of a double bearing type mounted thereon. This also worsens the portability of the above-mentioned conventional fishing reel of a double bearing type.
Further, in the above-mentioned conventional fishing reel of a double bearing type, for example, while something in the water or big fish is being caught on a hook connected to a fishing line, in order to take up the fishing line suddenly onto the spool, if the handle is rotated suddenly in the given fishing line take-up direction, then a large rotation force is suddenly applied not only to the engaging projection provided on one end portion of the spool shaft but also to an engaging recess formed in the pinion in engagement with the engaging projection of the spool shaft, the portion of the pinion adjacent to the engaging recess is slightly deformed in the tangential direction due to such sudden and large rotation force. In addition, if such slight deformation is repeated and the diameter of such engaging portion is thereby increased slightly, then there is required a large force to achieve the movement of the engaging portion with respect to the inner peripheral surface of the bearing in the direction extending along the rotation axis of the spool shaft, especially, the movement of the engaging portion from the rotation force cut-off position to the rotation force transmission position. Also, the use of such large force raises another problem that the operation of the clutch mechanism using the above-mentioned pinion can be disabled.
The above-mentioned movement of the pinion in the direction extending along the rotation axis of the spool shaft further suffers from the resistance that is produced by foreign substances such as dust and the like attached not only to the inner peripheral surface of the bearing but also to the engaging portion of the pinion.
Moreover, the possibility of occurrence of these problems is increased by enhancing the dimensional precision of the composing members of the clutch mechanism in order to make smooth the operation of the clutch mechanism using the above-mentioned pinion.